Nazi Medical Experiments

Nazi Medical Experiments

Many know of what Adolf Hitler did to gain power, but little do people know about the experiments performed on the Jewish prisoners. During World War Ⅱ, many German physicians conducted painful and often deadly experiments on thousands of concentration camp prisoners without their consent. Many unethical experimentations were carried out during the Third Reich and was divided into three different categories. These different categories consisted of different painful, deadly experiments trying to find ways to prevent and treat diseases and illnesses throughout his army.

The first category consisted of experiments aimed at facilitating the survival of Axis military personnel. The German Experimental Institution for Aviation conducted high-altitude experiments using low- pressure chamber, to determine the maximum altitude from which crews of damaged aircraft could parachute to safety. There, scientists there carried out freezing experiments using prisoners to find an effective treatment for hypothermia. They would also use prisoners to test various methods of making seawater potable. The second category consisted of at developing and testing pharmaceutical and treatment methods for injuries and illnesses which German military and occupation personnel encountered in the field. Scientists tested immunization compounds and sera for the prevention and treatment for contagious diseases. “The Ravensbruck camp was the site of bone-grafting experiments and experiments to test the efficacy of newly developed sulfa (sulfonamide) drugs. (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum)” The third category of medical experimentation sought to advance the racial and ideological tenets of the Nazi worldview. The most infamous were the experiments of Josef Mengele at Auschwitz. “Mengele conducted medical experiments on twins. He also directed serological experiments on Roma (Gypsies), as did Werner Fischer at Sachsenhausen, in order to determine how different "races" withstood various contagious diseases.(United States Holocaust Memorial Museum)” The research of August Hirt at Strasbourg University also intended to establish "Jewish racial inferiority."

Some life meant very little to the Nazis, who herded millions of people out of their homes and into indefinite detention, heavy labor, and a gruesome waiting game until death. Nazi Germany operated a constellation of thousands of concentration camps, as well as a